December 16, 2014

December 8, 2014

Taken at one of the koi ponds in the Meditation Garden at the Self-Realization Fellowship Ashram, built in 1937 atop the cliffs of Encinitas in San Diego County overlooking the Pacific. Nicknamed Swami’s by surfers, the name stuck and is now the official name of the internationally known surfing spot on the beach below.

August 13, 2014

August 7, 2014

Last weekend, I moved out of the desert and back to the beach. The desert is visually stunning and so spiritually satisfying, but summers are brutal; it’s oppressively hot and relentlessly bright without relief. Additionally, southern California is experiencing it’s worst drought in almost 500 years. I have missed the water, the cool relief of the marine layer, and the coastal lifestyle. The ocean is just 3.3 miles from my new house and still, many amazing desert landscapes await only a couple hours to the east.

Looking forward to visiting all your blogs after I get settled to see what everyone’s been up to. Hope you all are enjoying your summer!

July 16, 2014

July 7, 2014

Image for display purposes only and is not intended for commercial use.

The waves broke and spread their waters swiftly over the shore. One after another they massed themselves and fell; the spray tossed itself back with the energy of their fall. The waves were steeped deep-blue save for a pattern of diamond-pointed light on their backs which rippled as the backs of great horses ripple with muscles as they move. The waves fell; withdrew and fell again, like the thud of a great beast stamping.

February 17, 2014

The San Buenaventura Mission was founded March 31, 1782 by Father Junípero Serra, a Spanish Franciscan friar, on land originally inhabited by the coastal Chumash Native Americans in their village of Mitsquanaqa’n. Although land was promised to the 500 displaced inhabitants, very little was allocated, and the few parcels finally “given” in the 1840s were soon lost. Many Chumash found work on local ranches, but diseases further ravaged their population. The lot of the Chumash continued to deteriorate with the arrival of the Anglo-Americans in 1847. In 1855 a small piece of land 60 miles inland and to the north near the Santa Ynez mission was “set aside” for the last remaining only 109 coastal Chumash survivors.